Timeline

The competition begins on 4th November 2017 at 11am. There will be free glasses to taste eachother’s beer ready in the premises of the pub and also a possibility to rinse your glass. The event is free to everyone, even if you’re not a homebrewer and just would like to learn more about homebrewing or taste homebrewed beers.

Schedule

11:00am the samples handover begin (please note the category rules)

12:30pm handover deadline

1:00pm-5:30pm tasting panel

6:00pm tasting results & winners presentation

9:00pm official end of the competition day

Samples delivered after the handover deadline (12:30pm) will not be allowed to the competition! Please, transport your beer in time and do not forget to register it using the online form.

Attention! The samples handover is held outside of the competition place. Please hand over your samples in the Lucky Bastard craft brewery at Kotlarska 51a, 60200 Brno, CZ (5 minutes walk from the competition place)

There will be draft commercial beer from local craft breweries available on tap. Due to legal reasons, we’re unable to sell/give away draft homebrew beer but there is no limit for bottled homebrew beer consumption.

Prizes

The overall winners of ale-style and lager-style categories (one for lagers and one for ales) will be awarded the privilege to brew their beers in Pivovar Kosir (lagers) or Lucky Bastard (ales). Further awards TBA.

Competition rules

The minimal amount of submitted beer is 1.4 liters.

The allowed list of bottles follow. Beers submitted in a different packaging may not be allowed in the competition.

5×0.33L; on homebrewer’s own risk*

3×0.5L; on homebrewer’s own risk*

2×0.7L glass

2×0.75L glass

2×1.0L glass

2×1.0L plastic

1×1.5L plastic

1×2.0L plastic

Each participant may submit up to 4 samples in total (even in the same category).

The beer is handed over not in the competition location but in the Lucky Bastard Craft Brewery on Kotlarska 51a, 60200 Brno, CZ (5 minutes walk from the competition location).

The samples are registered online using a form at https://goo.gl/forms/OYyq4aSs4A8FGFH23. You may also register the samples directly before the handover but the registration fee is 30 CZK higher than when registering online.

The beer is handed over on the day of the competition. You may also deliver the samples in person the week before the competition (Mon-Thu 9am-1pm).

The samples might be also shipped by post to the Lucky Bastard Craft Brewery along with the registation fee (CZK, EUR; 1 EUR = 25 CZK). The participant has to provide the brewery name, email address beer names and categories. It’s required to register the samples by the online form before shipping.

The beers are judged using the 2015 Guidelines, please check your version.

Each homebrewer is responsible for the correct samples categorisation. Samples entered in a wrong category may be removed from the tasting, even though they e.g. do not have any off-flavors.

The samples remains not used by the tasting panel will be given away once the tasting is completed for everyone to try.

The registration fee is 50 CZK per sample registered using the online form no later than 1 day before the competition is held. Samples registered later or directly when handed over cost 80 CZK/sample. The event entry itself is free.

Beers handed over later than allowed by the schedule may not be allowed to the competition.

The total maximum samples count is 100 (all categories together). Should the count be higher than the maximum, the competition president will decide whether to allow the samples in based on the available judges count and their tasting capacity.

Professional brewers are welcome, the beer however has to brewed in a homebrewery and not a in a commercial brewery (not even a pilot brewery).

*This rule was added based on our experience from 2015 and 2016 tasting panels with samples with a large amount of yeast/sediment, especially in a different bottles of the same sample. This means you’re free to submit beer in 0.33L or 0.5L bottle but the beer is better to be clear without any particles, sediment or haze which might affect the judging (except for the styles with allowed haze, e.g. Weizenbier). Too cloudy bottles may be penalised or removed from the competition. We also recommend to hand over the bottles in the week before the competition as the beers will stay in the walk-in cooler the whole week without any movement.

Samples evaluation

The tasting is held using the American-style tables – one head judge + 2-5 judges.

The table head is responsible for the correct results entry and correct samples order evaluation.

The sample scores are assigned using by agreement of the table judges. In case of inability to reach a consensus, the table head decides.

One or more samples are recommended from the base round to the finals. Picking no samples for the finals is also allowed.

The category finals winner is the category winner.

The panel is not required to assign a score to damaged or wrongly categorises samples, the panel is however required to mark such sample.

The tasting is blind, judges are not informed of the beers they taste, they’re only informed of the category tasted and, if required by the category, a special parameter of the judged sample (e.g. fruit type when judging fruit beers).